Tuesday, January 16, 2007

CITIZEN SUGGESTION: CLEAN UP LITTER: POST LICENSE PLATS ON WWW.LITTERBUTT.COM

Litter is frequently thrown on Greenburgh roads by passing drivers. Merrill Cassell, a resident of Greenburgh, sent me an e mail advising of a web site: www.litterButt.com. This web site posts license plates of littering drivers. Mr.Cassell advises that this is one approach that can help keep Greenburgh streets clean. Mr. Cassell also suggests that the town consider raising fines for street litter and place large signs at key locations advising that there are heavy penalties for littering in the streets. It is difficult to catch offfenders, but fines and notices are a good deterrence.
We send out our crews to remove litter from some key locations --within hours the litter returns.
Another suggestion: place camera's at key locations --maybe that would act as a deterrent.
What are your thoughts?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many summonses where issued by the GPD for littering? The only way to address this issue is education and enforcement. And enforecement means not just fines but a sentence to clean up graffiti,litter etc - then publicize this and the names of the violators. In England they have a campaign - keep britain tidy - it works. its not perfect. confidential to mr feiner - set an example by agreeing to remove all campaign signs within 20 days after an election.

Anonymous said...

Feiner has been in office nearly two decades and he is just now addressing the littering problem?

Surveillance is not the answer. Here is a better idea (from another website):

Unfortunately, increased surveillance can require expensive equipment for enforcement agencies that have limited budgets. In an effort to increase surveillance more economically, Pennsylvania has a Lens On Litter photo competition, whereby contestants are given substantial cash prizes for capturing litterbugs on film.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that the Supervisor is addressing this problem. Litter exists all over the nation, all over the world. It's not the fault of the government, it's the fault of the people who live in a community (our next door neighbors) who don't care about appearance. I am very pleased that Mr. Feiner is encouraging people to think of the problem and to come up with ideas.

Anonymous said...

I am adamantly opposed to cameras monitoring our streets. Today its used to enforce litter laws, but this can easily be abused and used to violate our civil liberties. Who is to say that these cameras won't be used to monitor our travels through Greenburgh?

Anonymous said...

Gee Paul, you really picked the wrong week to be raising this issue.

Because of the holiday, garbage gets picked up only once this week. That means the garbage will pile up, leading to a smelly mess, and when we take it out next week, if it's a windy day, it'll get strewn all over the neighborhood.

You want to see litter? Come visit unincorporated Greenburgh after a holiday week.

The truly sad part is that residents keep raising this issue, and except for some occasional lip service, it's regularly ignored.

That's not right.

Anonymous said...

Has any other member of the Town Council come up with a constructive suggestion as to ways we can address the issue of litter? You blast Feiner. How come you ignore Bass,Barnes,Juettner & Sheehan. They approved the current sanitation garbage pickup schedule.

Anonymous said...

"We send out our crews to remove litter from some key locations --within hours the litter returns."

But the crews are sent out very infrequently. Perhaps the DPW needs to work harder.

Anonymous said...

Central Park Avenue northbound between Clifton and Ardsley Roads seems to be a most welcoming environment for litter.

Entering into Greenburgh from Yonkers has been embarrassing for many years. Perhaps if Greenburgh chose to clean up that area (mowing, raking, street cleaning, weed wacking, etc. - even just on a monthly basis), people wouldn't be as inclined to litter there.

No one expects that Greenburgh has the ability to maintain its section of Central Park Avenue as well as the Yonkers' DPW does, but just some basic ongoing cleanup services would be nice. It does looks like a tiny bit of touch-up was done recently, but certainly far from satisfactory work.

Most people driving into Greenburgh from Yonkers think that they're entering Scarsdale, which is a good thing in a way. Greenburgh can't afford any more embarrassments.

Unfortunately, though, the mess that Greenburgh chooses to leave along that stretch likely lowers residential property values for Inverness, Clifton, Medford, etc. (Heck, I would never buy a house on the west side of Medford or Barford Lanes.)

State road, county road ... whatever ... It's the TOWN that should actively show care about its appearance, especially at a major entry point.

Anonymous said...

I have a what seems to me to be a reasonable first step. The Town should acquire and place strategically litter containers at spots that have litter. For example, one morning earlier this week, I was waiting for the traffic light at the intersection of Ardsley Road and Central Park Avenue. A northbound bus stopped and discharged passengers. As one got off, a used beveage container was tossed into the area right next to the bus stop. Maybe, although thre is no guarantee, if a litter container were there, this person might have deposited the item into it. These containers, which I am sure the DPW is aware of or can readily research, are sturdy and not easily moved. The Village of Ardsley has had some of these for years. They contain the actual receptacle inside, but otherwise look like stone / gravel coating. I'd urge people to come and take a look (they are on Route 9A), but that would just add to our already virtually intolerable traffic problem (Just kidding about not coming to Ardsley - I'm sure we'd welcome all.)

Anonymous said...

NYC got rid of its graffati on subways by cleaning it over and over again. As the post says, we must have big signs that says "KEEP GREENBURGH CLEAN, PENALTIES FOR LITTERING". See how clean Singapore is! because there is an awarness for keeping the streets clean. When parts of the town look like garbage dumps, people will just continue to throw garbage; but if the town is super clean, folks will hesitate to throw rubbish into the streets.

Imagine yourself standing in a clean hallway, you will not litter there; but if the whole place is full of litter, you may not hesitate to add to the rubbish.

The Town of Greenburg may also have to increase the cleaning intervals.

Anonymous said...

Yes, exactly as 2:46pm says. The Town needs to make the first move - to genuinely make a committment to CLEAN Central Ave south of Ardsley Road - over and over again if need be - and it will be less inviting for drivers to consider tossing litter in the first place. In its current state, that northbound strip of Central Ave seems to actively welcome litter.

Right now, wintertime, might actually be easier to do the major cleanup necessary for that area. There's been no snow to plow, so this would be a great task for the DPW at this time.

(There are probably other areas in Unincorporated Greenburgh, too, that are neglected by the town, but I just happen to drive past that Central Ave nastiness every day.)

Anonymous said...

THE TOWN DOES A GREAT JOB IN TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH THE LITTER WITH IS THROWN OUT CAR WINDOWS AMAZINGLY FROM PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIVE HERE EITHER